CLINTON, Iowa - Junior Shayna Ehlers of Farmington, Ill., slammed two home runs and junior Haley Holmes of Manly, added another as the Ashford University softball team closed out the regular season with a split against Iowa Wesleyan College on Senior Night Thursday evening, 3-0, and 5-10.

Junior starting pitcher Kendra Roth of Salem, S.D., fired a complete game, four-hit victory in game one, striking out seven Tigers in the process before Iowa Wesleyan rallied for a five-run seventh inning to take the nightcap.

Seniors Marissa Thede of Davenport, and Kaitlin Welch of Bettendorf, were honored by Head Coach Kevin Jannusch and their teammates in between games. Together, they were given a variety of gifts and thanks for their dedication and hard work during their softball careers at Ashford.

With the regular season now finished, the Saints (10-20, 9-13) will hold the sixth seed in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament that gets underway at three different locations, squaring off against No. 9 Clarke University on Saturday in Oskaloosa.

The Saints swept the Crusaders during the regular season, winning 4-3 and 3-2, in early April.

A pitcher's duel highlighted the first three innings of the opening game, as Roth and Iowa Wesleyan hurler Ayla Serrano scattered a combined three hits to begin the contest before the Saints broke the game open in their half of the fourth.

After Roth led the inning off with a single to center, Ehlers connected for a towering shot over the right field wall, pushing the Saints ahead for a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, Holmes ripped a bases-loaded single up the middle to increase the lead to three.

That would be more than enough insurance for Roth, who allowed her first hit in the fifth inning. The Tigers managed to load the bases in the top of the seventh, but Roth sat down the last two batters on strikes to end the game.

Both teams' offenses came ready to play in the nightcap, combining for 15 runs on 20 hits altogether.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning, Ehlers, also the Saints' starting pitcher of game two, helped her own cause and blasted her second home run of the night, a solo shot to center field to tie the game at 1-1.

With the Saints ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Holmes connected for her second home run of the season with a two-run blast to left to put the Saints up 5-2. Thanks to the big hit, Holmes ended the regular season with the Saints' highest batting average with a .311 (28-for-90) clip.

The Tigers took control from that point on however, rallying back for eight runs in the final two innings, highlighted by back-to-back, two-run doubles by Leigha Strong and Sarah Voss in top of the seventh to close out game two.

The Saints will open up the MCC Tournament on Saturday with the first pitch against the Crusaders set for 2 p.m. The winner will face the top-seeded Lady Statesmen from William Penn also on Saturday at 5 p.m.

View MCC Softball Tournament Pods here